First off I love this game (or want to love it). The idea of a post apocalypse, country and western old vegas is really cool.

Second of all, I can't believe how amazing the world is and didn't know it was even possible on a PC. Last game I played like this was KOTOR, and Goldeneye for N64. It seems to blend those, with unlimited real time combat potential.

The first problem I came upon was understanding what things do. A bottle IRL can be recycled or thrown in the trash, in this game with proper skills and perks you can craft them into stuff. A paperweight could be sold to Chet, but on my 1st game I accidentally didn't know what theft was. Anyway, so far I have spent about 35 hours in-game and about 200 hours out of game on wikia, gamefaqs, and other sites. I kind of dislike Wikia because it pays people to take 'their' Wiki databases (from FFXI online for example) and extorts them to put 'their' information on Wikia. Yet here I am browsing it night after night, scrounging for user information about details on how stuff works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgcTHf3tbtc Mood music.

No real problem there, the real issue is I constantly find myself trying to understand the game mechanics as I go along. Since I play on 1900 x 1080, the monitor only allows fullscreen or a tiny windowed mode. I want to be immersed, so I go full screen. However I constantly save / quit game, open up firefox on google, type in 'new vegas 20 gauge' or something of the sort and read instead of play. In game my actions mirror this, I spend most of the time looking at the pip boy or vendor management screens.

For example tonight, I went through 8 hours of gameplay (3 in-game with my Fallout mouse that has increased mousewheel sensitivity and 5-offline on PC browsing the web). Previously my character had experienced what I call the 'Mojave Horseshoe.' Goodsprings, to Primm, to Mojave Outpost, to Nipton, to Novac, to Forlorn Hope. Basically all of my discovered territories and quest lines with offshoots taken form the image of a horseshoe. I decided to go up to the Implant doctor I discovered online (since I have gathered 42,100 caps from collecting [censored] packs/cartons and using the Jury Rigging perk to obliterate the available caps from Goodsprings (~2600), Mojave (~3500), Novac (~940), and Primm (~820) via selling high quality weapons along with some explosives to make it a good deal. I came upon vault 22 (ah there are underground safe dungeons too with the living [sic] from before the apocalypse... cool...) and I've been combing it on an off-save game but I seem to need to find camp carrigan to activate the possible companion keely game for it.

Don't get me wrong, this game is tonnes better than Dragon Age: Origins (where I started a Dwarf shield master but only made it to one area (mage tower) over the last years because I ended up spending too much time in the companion tactics logic screens trying to get it to work right.)

Anyway, do you guys have any advice. Should I give up my inevitable victory (kill the guy in vegas), and start anew since I now know what most of the items do/mean with a total different mind set and character build? Should I buy one of the DLC packs (Dead man or Hearthy Hearts) and click on it to go to whatever map?

I can't seem to escape this desire to comb every area and basically take every items (as I discover their meanings) from those 'cells' and move them into my 'novac cell' to make me stronger. How can I end this gamer retardation and call a spade a spade and just do it taking tonnes of damage, getting owned, loading game / saving game less, actually using items etc the normal process.

Don't use the wikia.
If you fail to understand something then don't understand it until you figure it out on your own be it the current playthrough or any of the subsequent playthroughs.
It will leave a lot of stones unturned and will make you go "I had no idea X did Y!" on the 5th playthrough.

And no, don't start a new character, finish what you started.
My first character was Energy Weapons, pre-patch, and it [censored] svcked and to add insult to injury I went with Legion, which while I love them they completely got shafted with the amount of content NCR has.
Yet I still finished the character and it serves as good memory of how my worst playthrough was like.
Finish yours up before starting a new one.

You sound like one o' them anol type gamers, that just has to look under every stone, follow every dead end, and know everything there is to know, about a game you really like. Hehe, I resemble that As far as you've made it already, might as well finish 'er on up, like Gabriel says. Once yer done, you'll fully realize just how much you missed, and how many ways there are to play through that are different (fascinatingly so) than your first run, and have a lot better understanding of how the game world works and the mechanics of how to play. I've built probably 9 or 10 chars since my first one... although I am guilty of getting sidetracked with ideas for new cool builds and methodologies, and creating and running off with new chars long before I've finished a run with the last one(s)... lol! Just do what feels good to you. The only hard and fast rule for this game, is have fun with it, man!

Yeah. I've played through several times now, and I think my next playthrough is going to be dramatically different. Instead of a ranged smart person (the default base to my characters usually) I'm going to make a bloody idiot and get him a big hammer. I'll tag Melee, Survival, and either Medicine or Barter, and see what I can accomplish.

Gonna be fun going bighorner hunting with a hammer.

Just proof that every playthrough can be very, very different.

I think the game is really spoilt by over-reading the Wiki, even if you just use it to research game mechanics you'll inevitably find yourself reading up about some place or quest you might have discovered by chance, which is much more satisfying.

My advice is not to worry to much about knowing everything, it really isn't necessary to enjoy the game.

I'm going to agree....stop reading the wiki. Walkthroughs spoil/dilute immersion, particularly in RPG's...learn to discover/figure out things on your own, for at least one playthrough. Explore nooks & crannies & collect stuff as much as you want, but don't fret about maybe seeing/doing "everything" in the first go (via walkthroughs)...as gabs said, that way, on other playthroughs, you may find yourself delighted with a "hey I didn't see/discover/notice that before" moment. Those are fun moments to have, shame to miss them.

Also think you should finish the 1st playthrough. I mean, may restart a few times, very quickly (that is, an hour or two into the game) on a 1st run, but after that I stick with. With big RPG's, there's always a reason to re-start ...but it's actually easier (imo) to decide what you may want to do "next time" after you've finished the game and have a more complete idea of what you might want to change. Otherwise you restart and once past the place you were before, may suddenly hit a new spot and want to restart again. Next thing you know, you've played 3/4 of the game 5 times and never finish the game, haha.

I like everybody else here agree the wiki is for later. Play your first few characters with out it unless you are totally stumped and then only peek. I like alot of the folks here have to know how everything works, where everything is, i love the details oriented style of game play and really THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO PLAY, there is only your way and that is good enough. I am on character number 6 now at level 31 i have not been to the Strip yet, but i have been everywhere else except the Fort (Ceasar's area) which is unlocked as you progress through the main quest and Dead Money. The thing about a game like Fallout is that as most folks are more used to the World of Warcraft type of game play where the game leads you by the nose ring and all but puts the items in your inventory, Fallout is different in that getting lost is half the fun. Wander, over turn stones, talk to as many NPCs as you can find, pick up everything find a box or a mod that adds some boxes to store stuff in, i am a fanatical crafter and a hardcoe mode player, and i play fast and loose with everything. Do not worry about missing stuff your going to so just accept it and enjoy what you do find the missed stuff is for the next build, seriously i have 6 characters and i still have not completed everyting, or found everything, yet. As far as Dead Money IGNORE THE HATERS, determine for your self, it is definately different from normal Fallout New Vegas it is this level of difference that has put most people off not that they are wrong or right it is something an individual will need to work out on thier own. I have it because it is FONV and that was good enough for me, actually still is, so even though i have 2 games dropping next week, The Witcher 2 and Fable 3 (already paid for) i will still grab the DLC even if i do not play it right away.

I love this game because my choices are king, what i want i get, and i am not sure the depth of how bad Bethesda has ruined me because once free you will never willingly slip the chains on again, and everything else feels so limited.

Asai